Bad Day for McMahon

Things are gettin' crazy out here on SI.

On Sunday, Rep. Mike McMahon voted "no" on some health care thing that apparently was a huuuuge deal.

You can follow that all that convoluted nonsense here, but for now we will summarize what people have been saying today ('cause that's what blogs are for, no?)

The NY Daily News is all like, the White House is PISSED yo! and McMahon won't be gettin' any dough from us, according to sources.

The Advance is all up on this -ish, reporting that some left-wing dude Steve Harrison is going to mount a primary challenge against the congressman.

Meanwhile, one of McMahon's potential Republican opponents, Mike Grimm, is bashin' him over the head with right-wing rhetoric.

But not to be out-teabagged, the other white meat, er Republican, Mike Allegretti goes to the NY Post to make his case.

Oh, and btw, the Brooklyn Eagle said that anti-war demonstrators were protesting outside McMahon's BK office on Friday.

So it's a pretty shitty day to be Rep. McMahon. But what was he supposed to do? Vote "Yes"?

That woulda been even worse.

The Tea Party would scream bloody murder. The pro-life crazies would come out of their proverbial closets. Old-timey folks with pitchforks would mob Tottenville towne. All chaos would break loose. We'd all be living off rationed Joe & Pat's for months.

Actually, that last part isn't so bad.

In Defense of Tanning Salons

You may remember back in 2k9 when the Dump launched tan-gate, about the 10 percent tax on indoor tanning salons that Democrats slipped into Obama's health care bill. We said, sarcastically, that the tax would place an undue burden on superficial orange people. But alas, the Advance has one-upped us and has published a piece in defense of tanning salons.

A piece, published on Jan 3, mentions the new tax and the negative effects it could have on the Staten Island's small businesses. OK, most of it is pretty straight-up news but here's where it goes off the rails:

"Ultraviolet light has very clear health benefits," said John Overstreet, executive director of the [Indoor Tanning] Association

Health Benefits? Really! So going to the tanning salon can actually reduce your chances of skin cancer. Is that what this douche is saying, I can't tell because there aren't any legitimate follow-up responses on this. I'd love to get a doctor's opinion on how "healthy" tanning salons are.

The article does gloss over a study by the International Agency for Research on Cancer but the breadth of the piece is clear: don't tax us to death, let us tan to death.

Added Bonus: I love scrolling through the comments, hilarity ensues.

Posted by foxaddict

January 04, 2010, 12:56AM

Whay is it OK to penalize some industries - because you say so? Tyranny at its best

How will we ever survive this tyranny?

Island Tanning Salons on the Hook

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So it looks like President Obama and the Democrats will get their Health Care Reform after all. While DC and the rest of the East Coast was being blanketed by snow, Senators emerges from a 13 hour meeting with Nebraska Democrat Ben Nelson to finally come to an agreement on abortion.

The bill will include some new taxes to help cover the over 30 million people who don't have insurance. One of these taxes struck me as kind of comical and I think will hit Staten Island hard: a tanning salon tax. This is no joke, according to the Times:

Mr. Reid dropped a proposed tax on cosmetic surgery and replaced it with a tax on “indoor tanning services.” Senate Democrats said the 10 percent tax was justified because ultraviolet radiation from tanning devices could increase the risk of skin cancer.

I wonder how all the tanning salons on the Island feel about this. Would Staten Island ever be the same without all the superficial orange people? Will MTV's Jersey Shore lose their endorsement deals?